The IP (Internet Protocol) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is a standardized architecture for providing multimedia services and voice-over-IP calls to both mobile and fixed user agents (UAs). The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) been standardized and governed primarily by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as a signaling protocol for creating, modifying, and terminating IMS-based calls or sessions. As used herein, the terms “user agent” and “UA” might in some cases refer to mobile devices such as mobile telephones, personal digital assistants, handheld or laptop computers, and similar devices that have telecommunications capabilities. Such a UA might consist of a UA and its associated removable memory module, such as but not limited to a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) that includes a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) application, a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) application, or a Removable User Identity Module (R-UIM) application. Alternatively, such a UA might consist of the device itself without such a module. In other cases, the term “UA” might refer to devices that have similar capabilities but that are not transportable, such as fixed line telephones, desktop computers, set-top boxes, or network nodes. When a UA is a network node, the network node could act on behalf of another function such as a UA or a fixed line device and simulate or emulate the UA or fixed line device. For example, for some UAs, the IMS SIP client that would typically reside on the device actually resides in the network and relays SIP message information to the device using optimized protocols. In other words, some functions that were traditionally carried out by a UA can be distributed in the form of a remote UA, where the remote UA represents the UA in the network. The term “UA” can also refer to any hardware or software component that can terminate a communication session that could include, but is not limited to, a SIP session. Also, the terms “user agent”, “UA”, “user equipment”, “UE”, and “node” might be used synonymously herein.
Some UAs communicate in a circuit switched mode, wherein a dedicated communication path exists between two devices. For the duration of a call or session, all data exchanged between the two devices travels along the single path. Some UAs have the capability to communicate in a packet switched mode, wherein a data stream representing a portion of a call or session is divided into packets that are given unique identifiers. The packets might then be transmitted from a source to a destination along different paths and might arrive at the destination at different times. Upon reaching the destination, the packets are reassembled into their original sequence based on the identifiers. Communications that take place via circuit switching can be said to occur in the circuit switched domain and communications that take place via packet switching can be said to occur in the packet switched domain.
A user of a UA can typically place an emergency call by dialing 911 (in North America), 112 (in most of Europe), 999 (in the United Kingdom), 110, 118, or 119 (in Japan), or some other emergency-specific number. Such a call may be handled by a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), which might be an emergency call center or system that can coordinate an appropriate response to the emergency. Any call made to a PSAP will be referred to herein as an emergency call.